Cruise Ship Being Considered As Solution To Room Shortage In Sacramento’s All-Star Game Bid

SACRAMENTO (CBS) – The Sacramento city council put its support behind the Kings organization’s bid for a future NBA All-Star game. The bid is for the 2022 or 2023 game.

“The attention that it brings to the market would be tremendous,” said Mike Testa with Visit Sacramento.

Sacramento leaders are confident the city is ready for a global event.

“The one thing about this community is we’re always very creative,” said Testa.

That creativity will be put on display. The proposal includes the use of autonomous vehicles to get people to and from the venue.

Capitol Mall would be fan central with events and activities during the All-Star Week.

But the city short hundreds of hotel rooms, which is why leaders are looking for help in the form of a cruise ship. It would be docked in nearby Port of West Sacramento.

“When you need to have enough hotel rooms to service the game, but you don’t have them already, this is a great way to achieve that,” said Councilmember Steve Hansen.

The cruise ship idea has never been done, only talked about. Logistical details would still need to be worked out.

“We’ve got a little bit of luxury on time to make things work, but obviously it’s got to be a viable option that the NBA agrees with,” said Testa.

Sacramento has been making strides with hotel space. The Kimpton Sawyer added 250 rooms to the market. The future construction of the Hyatt Centric and the potential convention center hotel will add hundreds more.

“Fast forward another four or five years, there will be more hotel development,” said Testa.